UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expresses on Monday his concern about reports of the violent dispersion of protestors by the national security forces in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa and other cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), resulting in the death of at least five people, the wounding of several others and the arrest of over 120 persons.
The Secretary-General calls on the DRC government and national security forces to exercise restraint and to uphold the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly rights for the Congolese people.
The UN chief urged all Congolese political actors to remain fully committed to the 31 December 2016 political agreement, which remains the only viable path to the holding of elections, the peaceful transfer of power and the consolidation of stability in the DRC.
The agreement, popularly referred to as the "31 December agreement", represented a significant step towards a peacefully managed transition in the African country.
